ELLEN TERRY WITH EILEEN ATKINS - Lightning Strikes Twice...

Last Sunday I had the great thrill of seeing, at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Eileen Atkins in her one-woman show based on the Shakespearean lectures of the great Victorian actress Ellen Terry - and it was as good, if not better, than last time.  Click on the picture below to see my original blog:

What makes the show so fascinating is that, while Atkins is saying Ellen Terry's words, you cannot help to look through that to hear the actress sharing her own thoughts on acting, actresses and Shakespeare, so often are the lines blurred...

The 80 minute monologue encompasses Terry working with Sir Henry Irving as well as her reflections on the wonderful Shakespearean women she played and this is when the show becomes the stuff of legend - at times turning on a sovereign to play two characters within a certain scene, Atkins was simply dazzling in speeches from AS YOU LIKE IT as Rosalind (as well as Orlando and Duke Frederick),  MERCHANT OF VENICE as Portia, MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR as Mistress Page, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING as Beatrice (as well as Ursula and Hero), TWELFTH NIGHT as Viola, OTHELLO as Desdemona and Emilia (and even Othello!), ROMEO AND JULIET as Juliet, KING LEAR as Cordelia (and the King) and HAMLET as Ophelia.

Using Terry's own words to describe each heroine and to point out the pleasures and the pitfalls in playing them, the Victorian actress then gave way to the magnificent Atkins to fill the auditorium with wonderful readings of the parts, finding pathos, comedy and wonder in the words with no props or scenery.  Once within the role - even if for a few lines - the years fell away...

My favourite characters were Rosalind, loving and wise; the humanity of Portia; the fearless courage of Emelia; Juliet and her tremulous fear of waking in the burial vault (and giving a great example of the age-old observation that by the time an actress has the experience to play Juliet she is too old to be Juliet);  Ophelia and her broken mental state; and the finest of all, Cordelia and King Lear's reunion.  Atkins was simply stunning in both roles - an example of total theatre thanks to true acting genius illuminating the heartbreaking words of a bewildered, humbled King and his loving daughter.  You could hear a pin drop during this moment and I will happily admit to copious tears.

I am honoured to have experienced this wonderful event twice - PLEASE someone film this show!  It would be the perfect addition to the marking this year of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.